4to (189 x 143 mm). Woodcut device on title-page. (Some spotting or browning, a few leaves creased.) Contemporary vellum (recased, endpapers renewed, some soiling, a few tiny chips to spine). Provenance: Alexandri Pollini (contemporary signature); Colonna Family (Libraria Colonna stamps).

 

FIRST EDITION of Meursius’s scientific treatise related to Pythagoras’ number theory and the Pythagorean Theorem. Meursius was a Dutch classical scholar and a professor of Greek and History in both Leiden and Zealand. The present copy comes from the collection of the Colonna family, a papal noble family of Rome. RARE: according to American Book Prices Current, only three copies of this work have sold in the last 45 years.